Goodlatte Inspires Musical Tribute

The Virginia Republican was honored at the annual Grammys on the Hill breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club Thursday morning with a song dashed off earlier this week by a group of Roanoke, Va., songwriters.

The song, “Copy-Right, Copy-Wrong,” was written by Goodlatte constituents and members of the Southwest Virginia Songwriters Association: Larry Sakayama, Greg Trafidlo and Barbara Martin. Nashville songwriter Darrell Brown also pitched in.

The lyrics forgive Goodlatte for being born a Yankee, while tracing the congressman’s journey from his “college in Maine” to the law degree that will help him to “slay the piracy giants.”

“To those that make the music, he’s our Moses,” the group crooned. “Even better than Charlton Heston.”

Neither Goodlatte nor his staff knew the tribute was coming, so it was especially wonderful to watch him standing at the podium watching the musical scene unfold. Even more deliciously awkward was when Brown, the songwriter who took lead vocals, threw out an improvised “Don’t make me get the majority whip, now.” The room began singing along after a couple refrains.

When Goodlatte thanked the group, and the room, and referenced a “rap” tribute to Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., that debuted at the Grammys on the Hill event at the Hamilton on Wednesday night.

The Recording Academy remixed Conyers’s committee speeches to showcase new technology recording artists are using in the studio. The remix had a bit of a hip-hop feel, apparently, and gave Conyers a bit more street cred than one normally associates with a member of Congress.

There should be a new Grammy category for congressional tributes, Goodlatte quipped. Let’s not hold our breath, sir.